LAWTON – Comanche County Detention Center is planning to upgrade its attorney rooms, which will cost $7,539.
With little discussion, the Comanche County Board of Commissioners voted 3-0 April 29 to approve the jail’s request for additional funds. The money, which will come out of the county’s use tax fund, will pay for installing detention- grade tempered glass windows in the attorney rooms at the jail.
Attorneys representing CCDC inmates meet their clients in the jail’s attorney rooms, where they discuss the client’s case, fill out paperwork and sign any court-related documents, Interim Jail Administrator David Weber said in a May 2 email to a Southwest Ledger reporter. The jail’s inmates typically rely on court-appointed attorneys with the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System.
The attorney rooms are currently outfitted with solid glass windows and telephones, Weber said. If an attorney’s client needs to fill out paperwork or sign court documents, the attorney must leave the room and return to the reception area.
“Then our receptionist needs to contact an officer to then walk the paperwork around to the other side for the offender to sign and then return it back to the attorney,” Weber said. “There is not always an officer readily available, and the attorneys may wait in excess of 30 minutes to finish one visit if staff are conducting normal operations. like passing lunch, or if they need to respond to an incident.”
He added that ODIS attorneys visit several different clients at one time, so the wait times can be excessive.
Upgrading the windows in the attorney rooms will make visits easier by allowing attorneys to slide paperwork through a document slot, and the client can return the completed paperwork through the slot, Weber said. He added that the new windows will reduce waiting times and streamline the process.
“The $7,539 will cover the full upgrade, and we are using a locally owned business to complete the work,” Weber said. “So not only does it help move the process faster, it also allows us to support a local business.”